Woburn Safari Park has strongly rejected allegations that animals at the Bedfordshire attraction are kept in "overcrowded, unsafe or dangerous" conditions.

The Sunday Times claimed lions and tigers at the Duke of Bedford-owned safari park are forced to endure cramped cages, following the publication of report by government inspectors. According to the newspaper, the attraction was also found to have kept sea lions in water with harmful levels of chlorine, while large turtles were housed in "inadequate" temporary facilities.

However, a Woburn Safari Park statement said that the report had been "unfairly selective" and exaggerated the issues raised by the inspectors' report to provide an "inaccurate" picture of conditions. A spokesperson for the attraction said: "Woburn attempted to respond to the allegations on only a few hours notice, providing the Sunday Times with detailed information and independent documents, along with a statement from one of the people quoted in the article which contradicted the conclusions drawn in the article.

"We consider it to be a serious matter that this material has been omitted, with the result that the level of care provided by extremely dedicated and skilled staff at Woburn Safari Park, and the high opinion of that care expressed by leading animal experts, have been completely ignored in the article."